What sets Windows Server Essentials apart
Windows Server Essentials is deliberately kept lean. The edition is intended for small businesses that run a single server and have a manageable number of users. Its biggest practical advantage: Essentials comes without separate Client Access Licenses. The access rights are already included in the edition.
This makes licensing considerably simpler than with Standard or Datacenter. There is no core calculation and no CAL planning. The price is a single, clearly calculable line item. In return, Essentials is limited to one server and a restricted number of users and devices.
When Essentials is the right fit and when it isn't
- Essentials is the right fit if your business runs a single server, the number of users is in the low double digits and no intensive virtualisation is planned.
- Advantage without CALs. The simple licensing without separate CALs saves planning effort and makes the costs transparent from the outset.
- Essentials is not the right fit if you grow beyond the user limit, need several servers or want to run many virtual machines.
- Factor in growth. If you are likely to outgrow the limits of Essentials, you should have Standard calculated right away.